Journal of the American Revolution will be taking a four-day Memorial Day holiday and will return to our regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday, May 27. Join us then for the exciting conclusion of Stephen Paul Mark’s “For Sale: West Point.” In the meantime, to help satisfy your craving for American Revolution content, here are several […]
The story of General Benedict Arnold and Major John André takes about a minute to convey in a high school classroom. The real story, however, is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster with all the essential elements: heroes and villains, supporting roles, intrigue, greed, lust for glory, betrayal, danger, close shaves and a nation in peril. […]
It seems that almost every author who mentions British soldiers in their discussion of the American Revolution includes adjectives like “young” and “inexperienced” without any basis for those descriptors. They apparently take for granted that soldiers were young, and soldiers sent to fight in America were inexperienced. Neither of these generalities is true. Sure, there […]
In the early morning hours of September 28, 1778, British Troops under Major General Charles Grey surprised and decimated an entire regiment of Continental cavalry commanded by Colonel George Baylor. Over twenty were killed, more than forty captured, and many others wounded. Their major lay dead, and their colonel nearly so. And it could have […]
Abraham Woodhull, spy for General George Washington, nearly got himself hanged on one of his first missions. It was in October 1778, when Woodhull toured British-held New York City and its environs, observing Crown military activities. At one point he neared an encampment of Loyalist soldiers commanded by General William Tryon. Woodhull was probably preparing […]
While researching my book Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott (Westholme, 2014), I was thrilled to learn that the Continental Congress had passed a resolution directing that an “elegant sword” be awarded to Lieutenant Colonel William Barton for planning and executing the spectacular cross-bay raid that led to […]
After the Americans’ stunning victory at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, King Louis XVI ordered his ministers to negotiate a formal alliance between France and the United States. Conrad Alexander Gérard of France and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee of the United States negotiated the terms of the Franco-American alliance in the Treaty […]
Annual Volumes of the Latest American Revolution Research and Perspective Expected Every May Beginning in 2015 YARDLEY, Pennsylvania (May 14, 2014) – The popular online history magazine Journal of the American Revolution and acclaimed nonfiction publisher Westholme Publishing, LLC have joined forces to publish annual hardcover volumes with the inaugural book slated for May 2015 […]
Name calling, fearing mongering and demonizing the enemy were all on the propaganda menu during the American Revolution. Once hostilities commenced, another game played a significant role in the war for mind control. A game of numbers. Simply inflating the size of your enemy’s forces on paper and deflating your own helped to magnify victory […]
There is no coincidence in the date that I sat down to write this article. Monday March 17th 2014 – St Patrick’s Day. Two years ago, I was in the middle of New York City to witness first-hand my first St Patrick’s Day in the United States. Perhaps it was my rural upbringing that made […]
On the chilly evening of January 18, 1776, Georgia’s royal governor, Sir James Wright, summoned Rebel leaders Joseph Clay and Noble Wimberly Jones to his home – on the corner of modern-day Telfair Square in Savannah – to discuss the recent arrival of a British fleet off the coast near Tybee Island. He informed them […]
Ray Raphael just described how an Advanced Placement exam in U.S. History asked students to analyze what this image of a musket-toting woman said about the Revolutionary War. The picture appeared on an undated broadside commenting on the war with a poem titled “A New Touch on the Times” by a “Daughter of Liberty, living […]
In education circles, document-based learning is all the rage. The idea is to present a historical document, ask students to examine it closely, then pose some questions. These DBQs, as they are affectionately called, are expected to introduce young people to the process of historical inquiry. How sweet it would be, but it’s not that […]
Washington’s desperate situation in December 1776 and the critical victories at Trenton and Princeton have been described often and in great detail. His lack of support from the New Jersey militia is often highlighted, along with the fact that the few militiamen who turned out did not cross to Trenton on Christmas night due to […]
The legendary stories of Ethan Allen and Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys have long been part of American folklore. Their heroically described exploits are fabled in many fictional accounts and children’s books.[1] Allen’s name is synonymously linked with the Green Mountain Boys as if he was their sole leader. However, while Allen receives the fame, there […]
In the summer of 1775, the British built two warships at St. John, Quebec, on the outlet of Lake Champlain. That fall, the American forces invading Canada captured the ships and added them to their little fleet on the lake. The largest, a 50-foot topsail schooner named the Royal Savage mounting six 6-pounder cannons, four […]
At the battle of Camden in August of 1780, Lord Cornwallis dealt the Americans under General Horatio Gates a shocking defeat. Also known as the Hero of Saratoga, General Gates had recently proven a serious competitor to George Washington’s command of the Continental Army. Because of the debate over command, the defeat drew all sorts […]
Thank you to all our readers and authors for making April 2014 our second best traffic month ever with 72,000 pageviews. Huzzay! This month we welcomed new contributors Todd Braisted, Norman Fuss, Jim Blackburn and Joshua Shepherd. Since our launch in January 2013, fifty-nine writers have joined the JAR team and we are grateful for […]
During 1780 and 1781, Brigadier General Francis Marion earned a reputation as the “Swamp Fox,” a virtually unbeatable partisan commander who foiled British efforts to pacify South Carolina and who defeated or evaded every British attempt to destroy his force. It was not until 1782 that Marion finally encountered an opponent capable of beating his […]
The path of America’s struggle for Independence was heavily traversed through the beautiful vistas, pasture land, and streams of the Mohawk Valley Region. Nearly 300 battles were fought during the American Revolution, and almost 100 of these contests were fought on New York soil. At MohawkValleyHistory.com you can explore Central New York’s rich history and […]
Captain Henry Lee III’s promotion to Major in April, 1778, capped a year of impressive service for the 22 year old cavalry officer from Virginia. Lee and the rest of Colonel Theodorick Bland’s 1st Continental Dragoon Regiment had joined General Washington’s army in New Jersey fifteen months earlier. As commander of a troop of cavalry […]
Book Review: Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore. Knopf, 464 pp., Hardcover $27.95|Paperback $16.95|eBook $13.99 “One Half of the World does not know how the Other Half lives,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in his popular Poor Richard’s Almanack. It is a phrase that is open to many interpretations. Jacob […]
Remember when I wrote that nobody ever said life on the Pennsylvania frontier was easy?[1] Well, as it turns out, it was a lot more difficult than even I previously thought. Between battling it out with Connecticut Yankees and Indians, dealing with localized violence, and having to put up with a relatively untrained and undisciplined […]
“This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great Mortification as we have lost not only two thousand Men that were there, but a good deal of Artillery, & some of the best Arms we had.” So wrote General George Washington to his brother John Augustine Washington in November 1776.[1] The fall of […]
Go to any Revolutionary War period living history program or reenactment and you hear it again and again. “Huzzah for Great Washington and the Continental Congress!” “Huzzah for good King George and Parliament!” Huzzah this and Huzzah that all day. If our forefathers could come back to one of these events, they would be mightily […]
The biggest myth of Paul Revere’s ride may not be that Revere watched for the lantern signal from the North Church spire, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem described. Nor that he was a lone rider carrying Dr. Joseph Warren’s warning all the way from Boston to Concord. Nor even that Revere yelled, “The British are […]
Myth: “The fate of a nation was riding that night,” Longfellow wrote. Fortunately, a heroic rider from Boston woke up the sleepy-eyed farmers just in time. Thanks to Revere, the farmers grabbed their muskets and the American Revolution was underway: “And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, / Kindled the land […]
Lying between Vermont and New York, astride the border between the United States and Canada, accessible via canals from the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers, and 125 miles long, Lake Champlain is a major boating attraction. On any summer’s day, hundreds of watercraft displaying registrations from numerous states and Canadian provinces will pause for a […]
At dawn on April 19, 1775, the British detachment of light infantry under Maj. Pitcairn reached Lexington, about two-thirds the way to Concord. There they found the local Lexington Militia Company under Capt. John Parker waiting for them, all armed and formed on the central Lexington Green. Considering it a challenge, the first and second […]
It was an unfortunate expedient, but one that had grown unavoidable. On September 8, 1776, George Washington penned a lengthy report to Congress in which he detailed the pending decision to abandon New York City. Although Washington acknowledged that quitting New York would clearly have an adverse affect on the American war effort, he summed […]
The inhabitants of Alexandria, Virginia, awoke on April 11, 1781 to a disturbing sight. A flotilla of enemy ships that had spent the last ten days pillaging property on both sides of the Potomac River many miles to the south, had suddenly arrived off of Alexandria. One observer in Alexandria counted, “three Ships, two Brigs […]
Book Review: The Men Who Lost America, British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire By Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Hardback. $37.50 ISBN: 978-0-300-19107-3;466 pages, 7.25 x10.25. Many of us have been brought up with the understanding that the British leadership, both military and/or governmental, was made […]
After a British fleet of seventy-one warships and transports entered Narragansett Bay on December 7, 1776, and the next day landed soldiers that occupied Newport, Rhode Island, as well as the rest of Aquidneck Island, the Royal Navy had an excellent port for its ships to spend the winter. In addition, the fleet’s commander, Commodore […]
I’m a scientist by training. I received my master’s degree from MIT, which is incidentally where I fell in love with Boston’s revolutionary history. So, when I first began researching my forthcoming book on Revolutionary Boston, I approached the research very scientifically, considering things like moonlight phases, sunsets,[1] horse gaits and their associated speeds,[2] and […]
Lord Cornwallis dealt General Horatio Gates a terrible defeat at Camden in South Carolina. The battle represented a rather rude jolt to the reputation of the American general who had orchestrated the victory at Saratoga a few years earlier; to make matters even worse, rumors of personal cowardice followed the general for the rest of […]
People characterize the American Revolution in terms of Patriots and Loyalists – those who supported the rebellion, and those who supported the British government. When assessing individuals, it is tempting to assume we know which side they were on based on specific things that they did. But it’s not always so cut and dry. Is […]
An armed conflict between British Regulars and armed Colonials prior to 1775? Oh yes, yes indeed. In fact this conflict raged for several months between 1765 and 1766, all along the Western Pennsylvania frontier (what is now Franklin County). It resulted in the wounding of one civilian, dozens of horses slain, wagons destroyed, money lost, […]
With April 19 nearing, marking the anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War (the official regional holiday of Patriot’s Day in New England), it seems only fitting to delve into the popular tale of the secret informant of Dr. Joseph Warren. As the story often goes, Dr. Joseph Warren, the de facto revolutionary […]
They were always there, but are seldom mentioned. Name any major battle or campaign: New York, Brandywine, Germantown, Saratoga, Yorktown, Camden, Kings Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, Cowpens, Charleston; there are accounts of Camp Followers at each of them. Who were they? What did they do? Does it matter? Think you know about soldiers’ wives? Read on […]
